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#06BELGRADE1681, ICTY ACTION PLAN SCORECARD,

OCTOBER 2006

Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin

06BELGRADE1681

2006-10-1706:06

2010-12-10 21:09

CONFIDENTIALEmbassyBelgrade

VZCZCXYZ0006 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHBW #1681/01 2900620ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 170620Z OCT 06 FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE TORUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9541 INFORUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO IMMEDIATE 0263RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE IMMEDIATE 0499 RUEAWJA/DEPT

OF JUSTICE WASHDC IMMEDIATE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDCIMMEDIATE 1206 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATERUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATOIMMEDIATE 0616 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE0250 RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE

Tuesday, 17 October 2006, 06:20 C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE001681 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR S/WCI DOJ FOR ALEXANDRE EO12958 DECL: CLOSURE OF ICTY TAGS ICTY, PREL, PGOV, PHUM,KCRM, UNSC, SR SUBJECT: ICTY ACTION PLAN SCORECARD,OCTOBER 2006 Classified By: DCM Roderick Moore, reasons 1.4(b,d)

1. (c) SUMMARY: In July, the USG provided the GoS with elevenrecommendations designed to advance the hunt for Ratko Mladic.Due primarily to the resistance of PM Kostunica himself, the GoS hasnot carried out in full a single one of our recommendations (twohave been, arguably, partially initiated). In fact, Kostunica hasliterally brushed aside our recommendations, telling A/S Friedrecently that Serbia does not need two action plans. With aconstitutional referendum and follow-on elections likely to dominate

the political calendar for the next several months, Action Plancoordinator Rasim Ljajic has told us frankly that we should notexpect any more public activity on the issue, though he says below-the-radar operational activities will continue.

2. (c) Moreover, Carla del Ponte has sharply criticized theineffectiveness of GoS implementation of the Action Plan Serbianegotiated this summer with ICTY and has told us that the PM hasdemonstrated no political will to take the steps necessary to bringabout Mladics arrest. By contrast, the PM declared over theweekend that Serbia has done absolutely everything to cooperate

with ICTY and criticized the EUs irrational approach on Hagueconditionality. Below is an assessment of the GOS response to our

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eleven recommendations. END SUMMARY Proposal 1: Kostunicapublicly calls for Mladics immediate arrest and instructs all Serbiangovernment officials to do their utmost to accomplish this goal,stating that those that obstruct this goal will be immediatelyremoved from their position. Kostunica asks for the publics help in

this effort and ensures that the governments hotline number iswidely publicized. Status: In the three months since the Action Planwas initiated, Kostunica has said twice in prepared writtenstatements (one delivered orally) that Mladic should be brought inand handed over to ICTY (i.e., he shied away from using the wordarrest, despite explicitly assuring the Ambassador that he woulddo so). Within those two statements, he tempered his calls by alsocriticizing Bosnias mockery of justice in not apprehending formerBiH General Dudakovic for crimes committed against Serbs.Kostunica has made no appeal for public assistance in the Mladichunt, has not publicly called upon his security services to find andarrest Mladic, nor publicly threatened to sanction individualsassisting in Mladics flight from justice. In our opinion, and that ofLjajic and Deputy PM Dulic-Markovic, neither the PM nor thegovernment has made a sustained effort to address our firstproposal. Ideally, we would want to see Kostunica launch asustained effort with a nationally-televised, Oval Office-type addressto the nation to make the points mentioned in our recommendation.Proposal 2. Kostunica, along with Interior Minister Jocic, issuesPUBLIC instructions to all security units throughout Serbia todedicate full resources to arresting Mladic. Status: This has not been

done and is not currently planned. Proposal 3. Serbian securityforces initiate an effective manhunt along the lines of U.S. MarshalService recommendations for such efforts. Status: This has not beendone and is not currently planned. The U.S. Marshals provided adetailed briefing to Minister Jocic in 2005, including specificrecommendations on the structure and hierarchy of an effectivetask force. It is our assessment, and that of ICTY, that the gaps incooperation among the security services (BIA, VBA, and MUP) andthe lack of more results are at least in significant measure due tothe loose and ineffective operational structure the GOS has put inplace. Operational efforts remain largely as they were prior to the

announcement of the Action Plan. Proposal 4. Kostunica privatelycalls on the Serbian Orthodox Church to publicly support thearrest/transfer of Mladic. Status: This has not been done and is notcurrently planned. Proposal 5. Headed by the PM and PresidentTadic, Serbian military intelligence (VBA) shares the classifiedbriefing given recently at the countrys Supreme Defense Councilwith U.S. Ambassador and selected EU ambassadors. That briefingshould include a comprehensive list of people known or suspectedto have supported Mladic, as well as his whereabouts up until thepresent day and GoS efforts to apprehend him. Status: This has not

been done and is not currently planned. Proposal 6. Justice MinisterStojkovic announces the opening of a formal investigation into

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Mladic supporters based in part on the findings of the RepublikaSrpska Truth Commission report on Srebrenica, which includes adetailed list of people involved in or supporting the Srebrenicamassacre, including Mladic and his support network. The focus ofthis investigation should be to identify current Mladic supporters.

Status: This has not been done and is not currently planned. In fact,Stojkovics efforts on ICTY since July have been largelycounterproductive. For instance, he opposed the War CrimesProsecutors effort to introduce legislation that would give himjurisdiction over aiders and abettors of ICTY fugitives. Proposal 7.As part of the above investigation, those suspected of supportingMladic or having information on Mladics support network willimmediately be brought in for questioning, and if appropriate,detained. This would include senior figures such as former head ofmilitary intelligence Aca Tomic, former Army Chief of Staff Krga, andMladic son Darko Mladic. They should be held for questioning on thesame basis, as appropriate, as those currently in detention (formerlower level Mladic supporters wrapped up in the past severalmonths). Status: This has not been done. Ljajic told us eight weeksago it was planned, but it never happened. Tomic is believed tohave been close to Kostunica, including during the period thatTomic was involved in protecting Mladic in Serbia. Proposal 8.Kostunica proposes to parliament a new law that imposes additionalcriminal penalties on anyone found to be assisting PIFWCs in anyway, including financially. Status: This has not been done. In fact,Kostunicas government initially opposed this legislation when

proposed by the War Crimes Prosecutor. Only following high-levelinterventions by USG and ICTY officials has Kostunica offered tointroduce such legislation - an offer del Ponte dismissed asinsignificant given that the Serbian parliament is not slated to meetanytime soon. Proposal 9. The Government of Serbia prepares andmakes available to the general public a report on Mladic, containingespecially information about war crimes he is accused ofcommitting. Status: This has not been done. Kostunicasgovernment has done basically nothing to place Mladics crimes incontext. Indeed, before the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenicamassacre in 2005, Kostunicas party blocked a special parliamentary

resolution that would have condemned the massacre; Kostunicaargued that such a resolution would be inappropriate if it omitted anequal condemnation of crimes against Serbs. Ljajic told us heplanned to leak information about Mladics alleged atrocities andhis massive financial gains from the Bosnia war to local press tostart demythologizing him, but this never happened and,according to Ljajic, is no longer being planned. Proposal 10.Kostunica forms an interagency task force within Serbia headed bythe Special Prosecutor for War Crimes, which will be responsible forthe location and apprehension of Mladic and other high-priority

fugitive indictees. All personnel on the task force should be properlyvetted to ensure that no investigations or the mission of the task

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force will be compromised. Status: This recommendation has beenonly incompletely fulfilled. The task force, put in place at the behestof ICTY in the course of negotiations over the Action Plan (i.e., notin response to the USG recommendation), lacks the sort ofcentralized, well-resourced structure that the U.S. Marshals

recommended. War Crimes Prosecutor Vukcevic is broadlycoordinating operational activities, but ICTY has assessed that thishas not led to a substantial change in the form or the intensity ofthe effort. Proposal 11. Serbia helps establish and activelyparticipates in a regional task force to coordinate efforts among thevarious law enforcement and intelligence agencies throughout theregion to find and apprehend persons wanted for war crimes.Status: An initiative in this direction has been launched, and onemeeting has been held. According to Ljajic, there is some evidencethat Bosnian security agencies and BIA are cooperating on somesurveillance activities.

3. (c) CONCLUSION: In all, at most one or two of our elevenproposals have been partly addressed. The most critical element ofthe proposals - a consistent, concerted effort by Kostunica and thegovernment to make the public aware that they are serious abouttracking down and arresting Mladic - has not been initiated. Yet onOctober 14, Kostunica told local press that Serbia has doneabsolutely everything to complete cooperation with the Haguetribunal. Based on what we have seen to date, we cannot concurwith that rosy assessment.

POLT

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